Koppers (NYSE:KOP) Shares Pass Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP)’s stock price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $30.43 and traded as high as $39.09. Koppers shares last traded at $38.6510, with a volume of 171,492 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on KOP shares. Wall Street Zen raised Koppers from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Koppers from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Koppers in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Koppers from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.50.

Koppers Trading Up 1.1%

The company has a current ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.43. The stock has a market cap of $747.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.35.

Koppers (NYSE:KOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $432.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.00 million. Koppers had a net margin of 2.98% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. Koppers has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.200-5.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Koppers Holdings Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Koppers Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Koppers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Koppers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Koppers

In other news, CEO M Leroy Ball sold 2,489 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.91, for a total value of $94,357.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 447,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,963,170.69. The trade was a 0.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Koppers by 17.1% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 954,431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,724,000 after purchasing an additional 139,600 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Koppers during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,635,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Koppers by 145.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 186,729 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,003,000 after buying an additional 110,577 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in shares of Koppers during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,528,000. Finally, Villanova Investment Management Co LLC raised its position in shares of Koppers by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC now owns 71,665 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,007,000 after buying an additional 23,131 shares in the last quarter. 92.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Koppers Company Profile

Koppers Company, Inc is a global specialty chemicals and materials manufacturer serving diverse industrial markets. The company operates through two primary segments: Carbon Materials & Chemicals, which produces a range of coal tar–based products, phenolic specialties and carbon compounds; and Railroad Products & Services, which offers wood treating and infrastructure services for rail and utility customers.

In its Carbon Materials & Chemicals segment, Koppers supplies coal tar pitch, refined creosote, coal tar‐based distillates and phenolic resins used in aluminum smelting, graphite electrode manufacture, carbon fiber production, and water treatment applications.